@article{96d416a4b15c4de88be6ab57792b0461,
title = "Intensification differentially affects the delivery of multiple ecosystem services in subtropical and temperate grasslands",
abstract = "Intensification, the process of intensifying land management to enhance agricultural goods, results in “intensive” pastures that are planted with productive grasses and fertilized. These intensive pastures provide essential ecosystem services, including forage production for livestock. Understanding the synergies and tradeoffs of pasture intensification on the delivery of services across climatic regions is crucial to shape policies and incentives for better management of natural resources. Here, we investigated how grassland intensification affects key components of provisioning (forage productivity and quality), supporting (plant diversity) and regulating services (CO2 and CH4 fluxes) by comparing these services between intensive versus extensive pastures in subtropical and temperate pastures in the USDA Long-term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network sites in Florida and Oklahoma, USA over multiple years. Our results suggest that grassland intensification led to a decrease in measured supporting and regulating services, but increased forage productivity in temperate pastures and forage digestibility in subtropical pastures. Intensification decreased the net CO2 sink of subtropical pastures while it did not affect the sink capacity of temperate pastures; and it also increased environmental CH4 emissions from subtropical pastures and reduced CH4 uptake in temperate pastures. Intensification enhanced the global warming potential associated with C fluxes of pastures in both ecoregions. Our study demonstrates that comparisons of agroecosystems in contrasting ecoregions can reveal important drivers of ecosystem services and general or region-specific opportunities and solutions to maintaining agricultural production and reducing environmental footprints. Further LTAR network-scale comparisons of multiple ecosystem services across croplands and grazinglands intensively vs extensively managed are warranted to inform the sustainable intensification of agriculture within US and beyond. Our results highlight that achieving both food security and environmental stewardship will involve the conservation of less intensively managed pastures while adopting sustainable strategies in intensively managed pastures.",
keywords = "Biomass, Diversity, Extensive pastures, Greenhouse gas emissions, Intensive pastures, Land use change, Nutritive value, Sustainable intensification",
author = "Shishir Paudel and Nuria Gomez-Casanovas and Boughton, {Elizabeth H.} and Chamberlain, {Samuel D.} and Pradeep Wagle and Peterson, {Brekke L.} and Rajen Bajgain and Starks, {Patrick J.} and Jefferey Basara and Bernacchi, {Carl J.} and DeLucia, {Evan H.} and Goodman, {Laura E.} and Gowda, {Prasanna H.} and Ryan Reuter and Sparks, {Jed P.} and Swain, {Hilary M.} and Xiangming Xiao and Steiner, {Jean L.}",
note = "Funding Information: Authors of this paper would like to extend their gratitude to fellow scientists; field technicians, laboratory staff and facilities staff. We thank Dr. Elena Blanc-Betes for reviewing and improving this manuscript. We thank John Garrett, BIR interns (Chelsea Gowton, Vi Bui, Megan Foster, Jessie Franks, Colleen Smith, Diana Jaramillo, Lara Jansen, Federico Borghesi, Eric Behrens, and Katie Nigro), Keith Brinsko, Haoyu Li, Julia Maki, and Earl Keel for field assistance, and Melissa Wasson, Derick Carnazzola, and Jiwoong Hong for laboratory assistance. We also thank Stephen Teet for logistic support at GRL and Eric Duell, Nolan Craun, Kris Vance, and John McQuaig at Oklahoma State University for field assistance. SP is grateful to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for office space and facilities during writing period. We would also like to extend a warm thank you to our funding sources: Grazing CAP project, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture , award number 2012-02355 and 2013-69002-23146 , DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovations (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under Award Number DE-SC0018420 ), US Department of Agriculture NIFA (Project No. 2016–67019-24988 ), and collaboration with long term agroecosystem research at both the USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory and the USDA-ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and handling editor for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was a contribution from the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network. LTAR is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Funding Information: Authors of this paper would like to extend their gratitude to fellow scientists; field technicians, laboratory staff and facilities staff. We thank Dr. Elena Blanc-Betes for reviewing and improving this manuscript. We thank John Garrett, BIR interns (Chelsea Gowton, Vi Bui, Megan Foster, Jessie Franks, Colleen Smith, Diana Jaramillo, Lara Jansen, Federico Borghesi, Eric Behrens, and Katie Nigro), Keith Brinsko, Haoyu Li, Julia Maki, and Earl Keel for field assistance, and Melissa Wasson, Derick Carnazzola, and Jiwoong Hong for laboratory assistance. We also thank Stephen Teet for logistic support at GRL and Eric Duell, Nolan Craun, Kris Vance, and John McQuaig at Oklahoma State University for field assistance. SP is grateful to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for office space and facilities during writing period. We would also like to extend a warm thank you to our funding sources: Grazing CAP project, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, award number 2012-02355 and 2013-69002-23146, DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovations (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under Award Number DE-SC0018420), US Department of Agriculture NIFA (Project No. 2016–67019-24988), and collaboration with long term agroecosystem research at both the USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory and the USDA-ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and handling editor for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was a contribution from the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network. LTAR is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023",
year = "2023",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.agee.2023.108398",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "348",
journal = "Agro-Ecosystems",
issn = "0167-8809",
publisher = "Elsevier",
}